The Associated Students Incorporated (ASI) held a town hall, proposing a possible $25 increase in ASI student fees. The ASI’s goal is to educate students about the possible ASI student fee and encourage students to go on their website to vote.

The meeting was on Nov. 29 held during U-hour, the increase would raise the original $50 per semester to $75, beginning in fall of 2017 with the ultimate goal of benefitting students and increasing on-campus life.

A ‘yes’ vote would mean that students support the ASI fee increase to $75 per student a semester; a ‘no’ vote means students want to keep the fee as is, at $50 per student a semester.

“ASI is proposing $25 per semester increase, this would take the yearly budget which would be $100 to $150 a year. This would really allow ASI to sustain curtain programs and employment and also have a little room to grow and provide more for students,” said ASI Executive Vice-President and CFO Aaron Herrscher.

An increase in the yearly budget would allow more flexibility to help students and allow more readily available services to them such as, but not limited to: an on-campus food pantry, 24-hour library access, large-scale campus events, etc.

ASI president Collin Bogie, brought attention to an increase in fees would also benefit the ASI-supported, Student Emergency Fund (SEF) which helps students in desperate need. However, with the limited budget, it is constantly run dry.

Third year student and Social Science major Kemisa Kassa, brought up a point in regards to  SEF.

“We have cool programs that you [ASI] do during U-hour and different dances but maybe the focus should be shifted more on the disparities of the students and for those who are struggling.”

Herrscher reassured her and said, “We [ASI] talk a lot about where the student demand is and where is it most needed. The usage of resources is a great way where we gage that. For instance, though ALF [ASI Leadership Funding] is not nearly as used as SEF … so to allocate that is we will take ALF and put it in SEF to make sure the need is met.”

ASI encouraged all students to vote, which is from Nov. 30 to Dec. 1. To vote and learn more about the subject and how it affects all students, visit their website.